What Are They Up To?
by GreyWolfandMoon
Summary: Please dont read I just dont have the heart to take it down thanks (just drabbles on how others see the Marauders so)
1. Snape

Severus Snape had always found the four idiots, i.e. the notorious Marauders very, _very_ suspicious.

'I can't wait for the night, Moony. It's going to be so much fun,' said Black fondly, his hand patting Lupin like he was patting a puppy.

 _Ew._ Night only meant one thing for Black: sex. Only someone as obnoxious as Black would share every detail of his dirty nights (which girl got her dream fulfilled? Snape wondered) with his friends, and only someone as obnoxious as Potter and Pettigrew would listen attentively with a big stupid grin like Black was the greatest comedian out there.

Not that Lupin wasn't batty.

'Be quiet, Padfoot,' whispered Lupin, 'bedroom talk. '

 _Oh God._ Snape couldn't even imagine the quiet Lupin participating in dissecting Black's sex life in their dorm.

* * *

Snape was packing his trunk when he realized he had left his potions textbook in the dungeon.

'Gotta go pick it up now,' he looked at the clock, which pointed at eight at night. In preparation for O.W.L.s, it was not uncommon that students requested extra lessons and Slughorn gladly lent his dungeon in reward for their diligence. If Snape was lucky, he could even run into Lily there…

'I see we have the whole dungeon to ourselves,' a voice rang in the dungeon. Snape stopped just outside the door. Some bark-like quality of that voice made him uneasy.

Just as Snape decided he had enough patience for the muffled reply ( he would NOT admit that his annoyance was largely due to his failure in eavesdropping) and wanted to push the door open, the voices came again.

'Hmmm… Moony….'

'Padfoot, could we… uh… go back to our dorm?'

'Moooooooonyyyyy…. Mmmmmmm.'

 _Moony and Padfoot._ Stupid nicknames. So it was Lupin and Black inside alright. Suddenly Snape decided he would rather retreat to the safety of the Slytherin Common Room now.

'My Moooooooony is my suuuuun, my sun is my Moooo– arghhhhhhhisdhfi! Were you lurking here, Snivellus?' Unfortunately, the very second Snape decided to return was the second the door burst open, revealing a messy-looking Sirius Black and a red-faced Remus Lupin.

Snape swore inwardly. While his whole life flashed before his eyes, he did not miss the fishy red marks on Lupin's neck, nor did he miss how the two sprang apart from a hug the second they saw him.

* * *

Snape picked at his pancake. Half of his brain was mooning over a certain redhead, half of it was stuffed with his self-invented spells and potions.

'… that was a good shag,' the annoying bark-like voice of Black rang again. 'He means… the shack,' panted Lupin, who caught Snape's sideway glance at him. Lupin's face flushed _just_ a little bit, which resembled Lily's red hair.

'A good shag in a good shack, you mean,' Black laughed. Lupin shifted uncomfortably.

'What's the thing with the shagging shack? You've been talking 'bout that a lot lately. Another bird, Pads? ' sneered Potter. He tossed a peanut into his mouth but failed. 'By the way, where were you two yesterday? I was hoping we could raid the kitchen.'

'You can do whatever you like, Padfoot, but don't let me see anything during our monthly gatherings,' Pettigrew grinned.

The shack? The only shack Snape knew was the Shrieking Shack. So, the infamous Marauders were up to something in the Shack at least monthly, though Black seemed to use it more than often.

Snape was curious.

* * *

That's it. The Shack was the Marauder's secret meeting place. The Shack held all the answers to Snape's suspicions. And he was determined to find them all.

Snape had seen the Marauders sneaking out of the Common Room after curfew every now and then, but had always missed them once they got out of the castle. Tonight was an exception; with the new moon Snape could barely make out the two distinct shadows on the Hogwarts ground which were moving towards the Shack.

'You sure you have the map with us?' asked a timid voice.

'Quite. Can't have him walking in on us when we…' another voice answered, though the last few words were so quietly spoken that they were inaudible.

Snape watched as the shadows moved forward. The taller figure had its arm around the other's waist, while the smaller figure leaned closed towards its companion. They seemed to be having a stroll (when it's nearly curfew) and Snape had to tiptoe slowly behind them, which was very painful especially when his curiosity could not be satisfied by their pointless, silly conversation.

 _Black and Lupin again_ , thought Snape distastefully. However, he could not suppress his angry gasp when he found himself staring at nothing but shadows and trees. Black and Lupin had disappeared. _Bugger!_

From the day onwards, Snape became even more determined to find out what the Marauders, in particular, Black and Lupin, were up to. This, was the beginning of The Prank, aka the Snape-knew-about-Remus's-lycanthropy incident.


	2. Lily

'Lily, listen to me, he's a werewolf-'

'I know what you're going to say, Severus.'

'Don't you believe me? Lupin is a werewolf, he's dangerous, he shouldn't be allowed to come here in the first place-'

'What?' said Lily coldly. 'You've got no proof, and, even if you had, if Dumbledore saw fit to let Remus come, I don't see why you should have any problem with the matter.'

'Lupin's ill every full moon,' said Snape loudly.

'It's really no business of ours, Sev,' Lily sighed. She walked ahead and waved at Snape, 'c'mon, let's drop this and go to the library. I need to research on the new transfiguration essay.

* * *

Lily knocked on the boys' door. 'Remus, may I speak to you? It's about the prefects meeting. '

'Um- er, I'm…preoccupied, perhaps… oh-' came Remus's reply , followed a loud 'bang'.

'Remus? Are you alright?' asked Lily. She leaned close to the door. 'Do you need h-'

 _Woof woof! Wooofwoofowofooowowowofwofo!_

'-help?' Lily's words were cut off by a loud, maddening sound of what seemed like a dog barking.

'No, thanks Lily, I'm fine, yes very fine…' Remus stammered behind the door. 'Maybe I'll… ouch! Talk to you later?'

'You sure you don't need help? Lily's concern grew. 'You sound like you're having trouble-'

BANG! The door to the Marauder's room sprang open, revealing a sweating, red-faced Remus Lupin. A stag stood stupidly behind the door, his antlers caught in the doorframe; right now it was trying its best to pluck its antlers out of the doorframe, which was probably the reason why the door sprang open in the first place. A big fluffy black dog was barking enthusiastically. It kept jumping on the frozen Remus, its front paw on his shoulder, trying to get his attention. A rat was squeaking on one of the beds, its beady eyes darting forwards and backwards as if trying to find a hiding place.

Lily's jaw dropped to the floor, 'what the hell-'

'Um, I'm looking after my pets, they're stirring up a bit of trouble…' Remus stammered. _Merlin, could she have come in at any more inconvenient moment than this? Right after James, Sirius and Peter had done their first transformation and not got control over it?_

Seeing Lily's thinning lips, Remus quickly added, 'you see, they are not exactly my pets, they…' he pointed airily towards the beds, signifying the Marauders,'… brought them in.' He smiled innocently.

'You know, Remus,' Lily sighed,' sometimes I think you need better friends. They're just so irresponsible, bringing their pets and not looking after them… Well, I guess I'll leave you to that.' With that she closed the door, leaving Remus standing in the middle of the room.

'Okay, thanks for showing me… you might as well change back already,' said Remus tiredly, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

* * *

'… Oh hahaahhhhhhaaa that's funny Prongs!'

'Padfoot you need to try it I swear- '

'Would you all just keep quiet? This is not your private playground,' said Lily angrily, an accusing finger pointing straight at the infamous Marauders.

Sirius fired back, 'Moony is the one reading and he didn't even complain! You barged in and start saying who should do this and who shouldn't do that it's not like you're the queen- '

'Oh?' Lily raised an eyebrow, her arms crossing. 'Just because no one's complaining doesn't mean you're not noisy and Moony-' she hesitated, ' well, who's Moony?

'Hm?' Remus looked up from his dusty novel upon hearing someone call his nickname.

'Oh,' frowned Lily. 'What about Padfood? Wormtail? And Prongs?'

'Well, Evans,' grinned James stupidly. He would not waste a single chance to chat with Lily, 'I am Prongs, Sirius is Padfood and Peter is Wormtail.'

'Why?'

'Er, um,' James stammered. _Bugger, should've seen it coming._

'None of your business, Evans,' said Sirius disdainfully. 'Jamie-boy might be trying to impress you, but I'm not, so butt out.'

'Does this have something to do with your… pets?' asked Lily. She had been pondering over the pets incident for some time now. The whole thing just didn't seem right, but she couldn't tell where exactly was wrong.

'Pets?' James echoed. He looked at Sirius and Peter, who looked equally bewildered. Obviously Remus had not informed them of their encounter with Lily when they were in the animagus form for the first time.

'Yes, pets, Potter,' Lily enunciated. 'Perhaps you might start by explaining your nicknames?'

'What's there to explain? Except to satisfy your curiosity?' Sirius snorted.

'Well, it's not like there's any harm explaining them,' Alice, one of Lily's close friends chipped in.

'That's very creative of you lot, those names,' beamed Marlene McKinnon who was sitting by the fireplace.

Now that they'd attracted the attention of most students in the common room, the Marauders had to say something. James winked at Remus, silently assuring him that they wouldn't give his secret away, while Sirius bit his lip trying to find something meaningful to say. Peter looked around nervously, praying silently that James and Sirius would find something to say before he was forced to do so.

'Well, thank you McKinnon, you're right. We are creative,' said Sirius dramatically, shooting a flirtatious glance towards Marlene. 'Prongs here got his name because … well… because he's got a weird obsession with forks. You know, forks have those things that stick out. They're prongs.'

'Forks?' Alice and Marlene sniggered.

James gulped. _Sod you, Black._ But then since Sirius had started the lie, he had to go along,' yea, em, I just has one of those I really like and I carry it around all the time. My mum gave me when I went here.'

'And just what do you do with it?' asked Lily incredulously.

'Er… eat?' James supplied.

'Apart from that, he uses the same fork to scratch,' Sirius snickered. 'His hands aren't long enough to scratch his back, and his nails are not sharp enough, so he holds up his fork and scratch his back at night. I saw you,' Sirius said matter-of-factly, ignoring James's glare.

'Ewwww,' said Alice and Marlene together. Lily frowned, but the corner of her mouth twitched up slightly.

Eager to get his revenge, James shouted before anyone could speak, 'Sirius earned his nickname "Padfoot" because his foot is soft like a pad. I heard it from Moo-Remus. '

Remus stared at James incredulously. _Does he even know what he's talking about? Does he know about - us? Surely that's one way to out your best friends._

The attention of the whole common room turned to Remus. 'So why would Remus know that Sirius's feet are soft?' asked Mary McDonald.

'They sleep with each other all the time,' James rolled his eyes. 'Once I heard them when they thought no one was awake, "Oh you're soft…"'

'SHUT UP!' bellowed Sirius, his face burning like fire. Either James knew and was outing he and Remus in public, or he didn't and was simply blabbering on about the wrong thing at the wrong time, which was unfortunately, true.

James, however, was enjoying every bit of it. 'So, the next day I asked Remus and he admitted that he was massaging Sirius's ankle and he found Sirius's feet soft. So there you go, _Padfoot_ ,' James smiled maliciously.

Remus buried his face in his palms. What else could he say? James's half-lie was not entirely false, but saying more would only elicit more unnecessary speculation from the giggling crowd.

'Very creative, Potter,' Lily snorted, though a grin started to spread over her face.

'And Remus? You're Moony right?' inquired Marlene curiously.

'Awww… That's very poetic!' said Mary sweetly, who Sirius suspected had a crush on Remus. He narrowed his eyes, watching Mary intently, ready to do anything to rescue his dear Moony.

Mary continued, 'do you like Astronomy? Remus?'

'Um…' Remus squirmed. The last thing he wanted to be associated with was the moon.

 _Bitch!_ Sirius cursed inwardly. How could he explain Moony which would not remind everyone of the moon? That Remus was mooning over someone? _But I am the only one he moons over._ What about the pronunciation? Moony - _Moany?_ _Sure he does moan bloody sexily_ … Sirius grinned lecherously.

'Black, what are you smiling at?' Lily's impatient voice pulled him back into reality. 'I hope there aren't some indecent stories behind Remus's nickname. That's bullying.'

'Oi! Not fair! He bullied me just now! Look at what he bloody said about Prongs! And you never said a thing!' James yelled.

'Is it something about the Moon?' ignoring everyone else, Mary pressed on.

'Of course it's about the Moon,' Sirius blurted out without thinking. _Oh bugger._ Glancing at Remus, he readjusted his position; keeping his composure, he casually put an arm around Remus's shoulder. 'Moony loves stargazing. He reckons he is the king in Astronomy class, so he names himself after the moon, which very often is the brightest object at night,' said Sirius solemnly. He quickly added, 'for your information, Moony loves the stars very much, they adorn the Moon. You see, _moon and stars.'_

'That's why Remus always gets high scores in Astronomy!' said Alice admiringly.

'I get high scores in Astronomy as well. I'm his study buddy,' said Sirius indignantly.

'I seem to recall you being caught for cheating in our last Astronomy quiz,' Lily drawled.

'That's Wormtail's fault. He's supposed to be covering me.'

'Wormtail? That's Pettigrew then?' Marlene cocked her head slightly. 'Mary, why does "Wormtail" remind me of Slughorn?'

'The same principle applies, McKinnon,' Sirius snickered. Ignoring Peter's 'Oi's, he explained, 'Just as Slughorn's a fat slug, Wormtail's a worm. Poor old Pete eats too much, I always mistakes his running as worming.'

James and Sirius smirked; Peter's whole face turned to the colour of a tomato. Amidst the girls' giggling and Remus's eye daggers at Sirius, the clock truck ten and Lily announced, 'thanks for the late night entertainment, Potter and Black. Now go back to your dorms everyone, it's curfew!'


	3. Dumbledore

'…Graduation is only the beginning of a new journey in life. Congratulations, young wizards and witches, happy graduation, and best of luck to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry class of 1978!'

Dumbledore's voice echoed in the Great Hall, in which hundreds of graduates of '78 sat solemnly at their respective tables, each house dressed in robes of their own colour. Today was the day of graduation, and the class of '78, which contained the Marauders, Lily Evans, Severus Snape and more were about to set out into the world and walk their own paths. Looming over them was the rise of Lord Voldemort; some had chosen to fight by the bright side, while some had dwelled in the dark, the slithering dark mark inked on their left arms sending shots of pain when the Lord summoned his subjects, like a constant toothache…

'To the future!' said James Potter, wand held high, a beam of light shot from his wand tip, which exploded and sprinkled sparkles all over the Great Hall.

'To our friends!' said Sirius Black, wand high up like his best friend, sending a pink beam up and sprinkling roses down the Hall.

'Here's to our future and many more years of unbreakable friendship!' chorused the crowd in unison, each of them raising their wand in salute to their teachers, friends and the special occasion of graduation. Amidst flowers, champagne and shouts, Dumbledore saw the Marauders hug tightly together. The four boys dug their heads in the middle, arms around each other. Sirius's arm encircled James and Remus on the back; the short, pudgy Peter almost hoisted himself up to give his much taller friends a heartfelt embrace, while Lily stood at the side, busy taking snaps of this unforgettable moment with a camera, smiling dotingly at her dearest friends.

'We will live forever,' Sirius said loudly

'For ever and ever,' said James, giving each of the Marauders a squeeze on the shoulder, then turned and planted a chaste kiss on Lily's forehead.

'May the world find peace, and youth like you flourish,' prayed Dumbledore silently as he watched friends and lovers cement a deeper bond under the safe roof of Hogwarts, which shielded them from the outer world of betrayal, suffering and deaths. Solemnly, he raised his cup in salute.

* * *

'Are you absolutely sure that you want to join the Order?' asked Dumbledore.

The teenagers before him nodded in determination. James and Lily stood side by side, their hands clasping; Peter stood beside James, breathing heavily, a frown crept between his brows; Sirius and Remus clutched their wands tightly, their shoulders pressed together.

'Very well,' said Dumbledore. 'Each of you will be assigned missions, and each of you will not divulge your mission. This is for the good of your beloved ones, as well as the Order,' Dumbledore looked at the teenagers right in the eyes. 'Torture and the Imperius Curse are common ways to elicit information from an enemy, and we must do our very best to prevent such occasions,' said Dumbledore sternly.

The new members of the Order of the Phoenix exchanged a glance and nodded again. Dumbledore thought he had never seen five people so in synch.


End file.
